Preston North End 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Portuguese winger Helder Costa has scored in successive league matches for Wolves

Championship leaders Wolves came from behind to draw with 10-man Preston North End at Deepdale.

Shortly after striking the post, Alan Browne put Preston ahead with a header from a Callum Robinson corner.

But North End had John Welsh sent off for a second bookable offence, leaving the hosts with 10 men for 31 minutes.

Wolves equalised quickly, Ivan Cavaleiro setting up Helder Costa to slot home, but the visitors were denied a fourth successive victory.

• Relive Saturday's EFL action

Substitute Benik Afobe had the best opportunity for a Wolves winner, but he was denied by Preston goalkeeper Declan Rudd.

Wanderers' lead at the top of the Championship was reduced to 11 points, while play-off chasers Preston have lost only once in 16 league matches and are two points off the top six.

The reverse fixture in October, which Wolves won 3-2, sparked into life after a quiet first 45 minutes and the game at Deepdale followed a similar pattern.

Browne, who was sent off in the match at Molineux, had a more positive impact on his home ground to nod in the opener.

But the game hinged on Welsh's red card, shown following fouls on Diogo Jota and Cavaleiro either side of the interval, and Wolves took control from then on.

Preston manager Alex Neil:

"In the first half we limited Wolves to not many chances, but I thought we had one ingredient missing in the first half which was a bit of belief that we could beat them.

"That was the basis of my half-time team talk. We started the second half on the front foot, we got our goal.

"What would have been really good would have been to keep 11 men on the pitch and see how the game transpired. At that stage I was really confident that we would have gone on to win the game."

Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo:

"Everybody thought that we were closer to winning the game, but playing against one man less requires a different approach. I think we created enough chances to win it, but we have to have a different approach and it's something we have to look at.

"In the same way, we have to look at set-pieces because we were in control of the game and we concede from a set-piece.

"I am not happy with the result because we prepare every game to win. We need to look at what happened today and get better."